Following are a few rules that should guide you in determining the price of an ecommerce website design.
1) Are you after a customised ecommerce web design or will an off the shelf template website suffice? If you are wanting an ecommerce solution designed by a web company then you will have to pay for this privilege. Alternatively, if you are prepared to go with a cheaper ecommerce platform then obviously the cost factor will be a lot less. It is very difficult to put a price on a website whose design and user interface has been customised, but from our past experience figures of $10,000 upwards are not uncommon. On the other hand, you can get a cheap ecommerce site for anywhere from $3000 to $10000. You should note that if you use a web agency with ecommerce experience, the end result will be far better, in terms of site traffic and sales/revenue. I have seen some awesome looking sites over the years that I have eventually bought from and I have seem some total dud sites that make me want to run a mile.
2) Like most ecommerce website platforms, your site needs to generate sales. It’s the life blood of the site and it’s purpose for existence. The reality nowadays is that is you want to drive customers to your site you will need to implement a search engine campaign as part of the process; pre and post site launch. Depending on the keywords this can also add to the cost of the site but prices for ranking ecommerce sites can start at $1000. You need to note that SEO is a difficult process and it does need time and effort, hence the cost.
3) If you want your website to have all the extras like: image zoom, multiple currencies, various filters for size, colour and quantities you will have to pay a bit more for this. Some off the shelf platforms will offer this as a standard feature but any customisation or variation to what is provided will be out of the question. These types of add–ons depending on the complexity can really push the web budget especially if there is a lot of customisation that goes along with this.
4) The eCommerce web design company you decide to eventually choose will have a huge affect on the pricing. If you do your home work you will find that many companies say they are based in Sydney, but are in fact outsourcing all their work to India. These types of studios will end up being cheaper, but in the long run, will end up causing you huge dramas ( this is a whole new topic and needs to be looked at on another blog piece).
A higher priced more prestigious web company ( like us here at hopping mad designs ) often will produce more top-end, stylish and individually tailored work. Make certain that whoever you choose has an office and is readily accessible and contactable when you need them. Time differences are a killer and you do not want to have to be up all night waiting for an answer.
5) Security is a huge issue. You will have to pay on top of your yearly hosting fee a fee for a SSL certificate – these should come up to the $500 per year. With all Hopping Mad Ecommerce platforms we offer a complete and very secure hosting solution.
ECOMMERCE WEB DESIGN PRICES – a historical perspective.
Historical Perspective: How Much Should a Web Site Cost?
Like many electronic and tech based products the costs, involved with designing and developing these have come down over time. The following chart gives you a great look at how costs have reduced for ecommerce web design over the past 15 years.
1995 – 1997 $17,500 to $22,000
1998 – 2000 $14,000 to $20,000
2000 – 2004 $10,500 to $14,500
2004 – 2013 $8,000 to $12,500
As you can see the costs have come down considerably for the average ecommerce site. We feel that the reason for this drop is based on two factors. Firstly, there are just so many web designers in the market and secondly software upgrades and modern tools make the design and development process easier.
The issue with the web market place being so competitive is that this has forced down the prices. Businesses are now finding that they are able to bargain the price down to a point where website studios are just recouping their costs. This has created a ‘bottom feeder’ market dominated by cheap and cheerful web design studios undercutting the more established designers. At the end of the day this will not last forever as businesses are waking up to the fact that you get what you pay for and are now willing to spend more to get a better ecommerce web solution. Basically, if you think that you can succeed online by cutting corners and looking for the cheapest quote then you are only doing yourself a disservice.
WHY USE HOPPING MAD DESIGNS?
The answer to this is simple; WE ARE AWESOME AT ECOMMERCE PROJECTS.
We have a talented pool of very creative designers and developers who LOVE these types of projects.
So if you have a product to sell online and want to get an ecommerce website then give us a call on 02 9360 8514 for a free no-obligation chat.